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Healing and cleansing with barley

High in fibre, barley is also a kidney cleanser. Better yet, regular intake
of it helps prevent heart disease. BARLEY water was always a regular
drink when we were still living at home. Whenever we had to go for a
medical exam that included a urine test, my mum would make us drink barley
water a day before it to make sure we got a positive result!

My mother was a wise woman. I later found out from an Australian naturopath
that barley is known to be a kidney cleanser, and she happily downed glasses
of it at a meal we had in a coffee-shop here.

Barley is good for your intestinal health too. Try to eat the barley grains
you find in your drink or sweet broth with fu chook (beancurd skin) and
ginkgo nuts.

It's high in fiber which feeds the friendly bacteria in the colon and helps
speed up the transit of fecal matter in it. In this way it helps prevent haemorrhoids
and colon cancer.

The propionic acid and beta glucan from barley's insoluble fibre also help
lower cholesterol and prevent the formation of gallstones.

Eating barley regularly is a preventive step against heart disease as,
besides the fibre content, it is also high in niacin, a B vitamin good for
lowering cholesterol.

Diabetics should eat more barley as the fiber will prevent blood sugar
levels from rising too high. It also provides relief from constipation or diarrhea for those suffering from Irritable Bowel Syndrome.

Barley is rich in selenium which prevents cancer and relieves symptoms
of asthma and arthritis. It is a good source of manganese, copper and
phosphorous.

Malt sugar comes from sprouted barley which, when fermented, is an ingredient
in beer and other alcoholic beverages.

Barley, whose Latin name is " hordeum vulgare" , has been
cultivated for more than 10,000 years.Since ancient
times, barley has been used for healing purposes and has been known to the
Chinese, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans. Athletes in Greece and Rome in those days were
known to eat barley bread to give them strength.

Besides the usual things we do with barley, I enjoy having it in a western
soup. The larger pearl barley is used and I love the sticky bite of it.Here's a
recipe for barley soup: